Here comes Rita !

[Free Radicals]

Now look at the news and see what Texas is doing to get ready for this massive Hurricane . Alot different than Louisiana's preparations . It wasn't Bush but Blanco that failed the residents of LA . Going to be a rough weekend here ,just glad I'm 200 miles inland .

[MICHAELEVANS]

And I'm in lovely downtown Houston. Fortunately, I live about 25 miles north of downtown, about 60 miles inland from Galveston. I probably won't be evacuating my home, but we are probably shutting down the office tomorrow, and all downtown is being urged to close shop today and give everyone 2 days to evacuate or prepare. Mandatory evacuation is going on now for Galveston and other areas that would be in the storm surge. It is orderly, with nursing homes, rest homes, elderly being evacuated first. There are mandatory routes everyone must take, according to where you live. All in all, a VERY different scene than Katrina. Of course, we will have to see what happens once the hurricane really hits. :mrgreen:

[modmark46]

I grew up in Houston (Spring Branch). Went through several hurricanes as a kid. I still remember evacuating with my parents to Austin, when Hurricane Carla hit in '61 (I was 5 1/2). I remember going to Galveston the next summer and some of the beach sights I was familiar with were just gone. I always loved driving down to Galveston and hanging out at the beach as a teenager. Last time I was in the Houston/Galveston area was 1980. Hope the area makes it through without any serious damage or loss of life.

[Free Radicals]

Austin is having the Austin City Limits music fest for 3 days this weekend and most of the hotel rooms are booked . So, if people are coming here, they better make other plans for housing .

[Play By The Rules]

LOL Von do you think the problems in Louisiana had anything to do with this expediated response? Folks in charge kind of realize that the media scrutiny will be on them. FEMA was in Homestead about an hour after the storm!

Rich Perry is a great governor that did a great job providing relief to Louisianians. I'm glad to see that he is just as good when it comes to the care of his own people.

Let's not let the political agenda get ahead of the truth, Bush failed Louisianians. Those people are taxpayers, not refugees. They deserve to be rescued, even if they were stupid to stay.

[MICHAELEVANS]

Play by the rules - you are right about not blaming the people in Louisiana. I haven't met anyone in Houston who complains about "rescuing" Louisianians who were to "stupid" to leave -- on the contrary, the city has opened its hearts to them. I think we have better local planning than they did, though. Plus, seeing the royal screwup by everyone with that hurricane, people here were motivated to get it right. We will see how right they got it after the storm goes through. I won't guaranty they have it right until its over and done with.

[Free Radicals]

Texas definately has always had a better evacuation plan . When a storm comes they evacuate . No pussyfooting around . Texas isn't Louisiana. Get ready to pay more at the pump , 100's of platforms off the coast and here, oil is still king ! Refineries in Corpus , Houston , Beaumont , Pt Aurthor , they're going to be hurt there . Gas prices will climb dramatically by Monday , mark my word .

[abnerdoubleday]

Von

Were you planning on going to any of the ACL this weekend? Based on what they are predicting, Saturday most likely will have some cancelations.

Some Houston friends (they live SW of the city) of mine are going to come to Austin and stay with us this weekend as they are predicting major flooding, power problems and general traffic issues in Houston.

Latest forecast for Austin is 70 mph winds Saturday evening, but with little rain.

To all my fellow Texas SOMers, take cover this weekend and hope you all are safe.

[dbrisner]

[quote:3a1420fc16="Play By The Rules"]

Let's not let the political agenda get ahead of the truth, Bush failed Louisianians. Those people are taxpayers, not refugees. They deserve to be rescued, even if they were stupid to stay.[/quote:3a1420fc16]

Dunno about u, but the people (i. e. looters and armed thugs) I saw on TV hardly appeared to have been living by the motto, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Didn't see too many taxpayers either. Those who were stuck for lack of personal transportation obviously weren't paying gas taxes. These people were victims of themselves before the hurricane hit. It will be interesting to see if they permanently label themselves victims of a natural disaster.
Why was the federal response slow? The Hurricane blew up over the course of a weekend and hit on a Monday morning. How many federal emergency management bureaucrats come into their offices on summer weekends? A lot of state and local emergency people are on duty 24/7/365. They were the only hope for those hoping to be rescued. Rightly or wrongly, the responsibility fell to them.

[harry lime]

[quote:5262791e3b="dbrisner"][quote:5262791e3b="Play By The Rules"]

Let's not let the political agenda get ahead of the truth, Bush failed Louisianians. Those people are taxpayers, not refugees. They deserve to be rescued, even if they were stupid to stay.[/quote:5262791e3b]

Dunno about u, but the people (i. e. looters and armed thugs) I saw on TV hardly appeared to have been living by the motto, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Didn't see too many taxpayers either. Those who were stuck for lack of personal transportation obviously weren't paying gas taxes. These people were victims of themselves before the hurricane hit. It will be interesting to see if they permanently label themselves victims of a natural disaster.
Why was the federal response slow? The Hurricane blew up over the course of a weekend and hit on a Monday morning. How many federal emergency management bureaucrats come into their offices on summer weekends? A lot of state and local emergency people are on duty 24/7/365. They were the only hope for those hoping to be rescued. Rightly or wrongly, the responsibility fell to them.[/quote:5262791e3b]

Wow. This is tongue in cheek, right?